Certificate's Best

Academic and Teaching Prizes Presented for Outstanding Character and Dedication to Learning

The Katie Y. F. Yang Prize, named for a 1990 graduate of the CSS Program, is awarded annually to the international graduate of the program with the most outstanding academic record. This year two students compiled identical academic records of seven As and one A-. Christina Renate Hoefler, CSS '02, of Germany and Tuba Yesilkaya, CSS '02, of Turkey each received the Yang Prize at this year's certificate awarding ceremony.

Hoefler earned her first degree in international business from the European Management Academy and a master's in European business from the European School of Management. Both degrees were awarded with distinction. Her work experience in the field of marketing has been almost exclusively with BMW, first in Germany and then in the United States. After Commencement, she returned to Germany to resume work at the BMW Group.

Tuba Yesilkaya holds a bachelor's degree in economics with a GPA of 3.5 from Istanbul University and two advanced degrees--the master of science in international relations and the MBA--from the University of Miami where her combined GPA was 3.86. In the CSS Program she chose a concentration in e-commerce. She has worked as division head of VIP Garment Manufacturing, a family-owned business in Turkey, and recently accepted a position with Merril-Lynch in Miami.

Presented for the first time in 2001, the Phyllis Strimling Award is named in honor of Phyllis Strimling, director of the Radcliffe Seminars, whose responsibilities included the coordination of Radcliffe's former Management Program. The Phyllis Strimling Award recognizes the character and achievement of a CSS graduate who has used or is preparing to use the CSS experience for the advancement of women and society, and who has grown personally and professionally as a result.

The 2002 recipient of this award was Heather Colleen Wynne, CSS '02, a nonprofit management concentrator in the CSS Program, who has devoted her professional life to fundraising for nonprofit institutions. As a student at Trinity College, she assisted in various fundraising activities and, after graduation in 1996, she was an annual fund officer for the college. In 1998 she moved to Boston and was a fundraising project coordinator for WGBH. In 1999 she joined Harvard's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, where her duties as an officer for the Annual Fund have helped generate current use money for the support of many of the Institute's programs and activities for women scholars. On July 1 she was promoted to associate director of the Radcliffe Institute's Annual Fund.

The Derek Bok Public Service Prize honors the commitment of former President Derek Bok to adult continuing education and to effective advocacy of community service activities. It is awarded annually to degree and certificate recipients at the Harvard University Extension School, who, while pursuing academic studies and professional careers, also give generously of their time and skills to improve the quality of life for others in the larger community.

CSS graduate Stephen J. Gendron, CSS '02, has served his hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts, in a number of ways. As a city councilor from 1994 to 1998, he helped inject new life into his aging city by supporting the construction of the Paul E. Tsongas Arena and the Edward Lelacheur Stadium. As a member of the board of trustees of Lowell's public library and president of the library's foundation since 1999, he was part of the team that oversaw the library's $10 million renovation, completed this year. But perhaps his greatest accomplishment was the creation in 1994 of the Spindle City Corps, an organization dedicated to encouraging young people from age 16 to 20 to perform public service activities for their city. He also found a way to solicit funds from private donors to give post-high school scholarships to these young volunteers. So far Spindle City Corps has distributed $260,000 in scholarship aid.

The Judith Wood Memorial Prize--awarded from an income fund established by the family and friends of the late Judith Wood--honors students who take courses at the Extension School while facing the additional challenges of a disability. Judith Wood was born with cystic fibrosis, later developed diabetes, and eventually lost her sight. In spite of her difficulties, she continued to take Extension School courses for as long as she was able to do so. Her courage and fortitude inspired many other students. Nicolle Spence, a candidate in the Certificate in Public Health program, received the prize this year.

This year's recipient of the JoAnne Fussa Distinguished Teaching Award, which recognizes exceptional teaching in the Certificate of Special Studies in Administration and Management Program, is Dr. Harold V. Langlois, who joined the CSS Program in 1994. His two popular courses, The Challenges of Team Management and Dealing with Change in Organizations, are consistently ranked among the most highly rated courses at the Harvard Extension School.